News

Almost a fifth of South Africa’s online users allow apps access to microphones

ALMOST A FIFTH (18%) of online users in South Africa always give apps and services permission to access their microphone or webcam, according to a global study of 15,000 people conducted by Kaspersky.

However, overall awareness of webcam security is promisingly high, with just over six-in-10 (63%) worried that someone could be watching them through their webcam without them knowing, and 65% concerned that this could be done via malicious software.

This points to the likelihood of more people proactively protecting their technology in the future as they adapt to remote working and the role of collaborative applications.

Over the past year, the reliance on videoconferencing has led to a colossal growth in apps such as Microsoft Teams, which as of June 2020 grew by 894%, compared with its base usage in February 2020. It has also brought about a near worldwide shortage of webcams with many leading suppliers seeing vastly increased demand.

Understandably, with these technologies and apps helping people to navigate the events of the past year across work, social and entertainment needs, people have expressed a willingness to allow app access to their microphone and camera. These tools have served as an enricher and facilitator of everyone’s sudden digital transitions. Globally this has led to 27% of people aged 25-34 always permitting access, according to Kaspersky research. This is less common among older age demographics, however, with 38% respondents aged 55 years and older revealing they never give apps and services such access.

Global figures on allowing microphone or webcam access in apps and services, by age breakdown.

Inmarsat launches ASP programme for IoT adoption via satellite

INMARSAT HAS LAUNCHED its Application and Solution Provider (ASP) Programme, an ecosystem for providers of software, hardware and solutions, as well as original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in commercial land markets.

The development of the ecosystem will ensure that companies operating in areas without reliable connectivity, or with mission-critical connectivity needs, are able to access a broad choice of Internet of Things (IoT) solutions to enhance the efficiency, safety and sustainability of their businesses.

The ASP Programme plans to bring more partners in over the coming months.

Veriff releases Face Match product to reverify people easily online

VERIFF HAS RELEASED Face Match, an AI feature for facial biometric technology, which authenticates or re-verifies a person online.

The digital identity industry is forecasted to be worth US$12.8bn by 2024, up from US$6mn in 2019, and Veriff is committed to offering a reliable and seamless service to its customers around the world to meet this growing demand. With its video-first approach to identity verification of more than 9,000 government-issued IDs from more than 190 countries in 36 different languages, Veriff is able to stop more fraud than any other industry player.

“With Face Match, Veriff utilises the person’s images to re-verify their identity based on the original session images and data as a reference point, which improves the user experience immensely,” said Janer Gorohhov, Veriff co-founder and CPO.

Some of the major features of the Face Match verification technology include: • The video features detect liveness through images captured in the SDK • Veriff compares the new face to the reference document-front image in

the system already • Assisted Image Capture is built into the end-user flow • Real-time response time is used to confirm the identification of a person • It comes at a reduced cost compared to a full IDV session

Sample use cases of the benefits of Face Match include • Resetting credentials – users can reset their account settings once they’ve gone through the flow once so that two-factor-authentication with face ID makes future logins seamless and easy • High-risk customers – additional steps are in place to verify identity with Face Match for actions like a new bank account being added, a large withdrawal request, or a suspicious login from a different region • Employee remote verification – an employee’s identity will be verified a second time before they are able to access high-risk or sensitive company data. The employee will need a new access code to ensure they are verified multiple times to eliminate any theft concerns.

TDB and dltledgers accelerate trade finance in Africa via blockchain

THE EASTERN AND Southern African Trade and Development Bank (TDB) and dltledgers have announced a three-year agreement, through which TDB aims to scale up the volume of trade finance transacted via blockchain in Africa using dltledgers’ platform.

TDB and dltledgers have been collaborating since 2019 on pioneering the use of distributed ledger technology to execute end-to-end trade finance on the continent. That first year, US$22mn in white cane sugar was imported from India by Ethiopia, with Singapore-based Agrocorp as the seller and trading company, and all trade finance activities concluded via blockchain.

When Covid-19 hit, TDB accelerated the use of this technology to conclude an additional US$150mn in intra-African trade finance transactions, this time consisting of fertilisers imported from Morocco’s OCP by Ethiopia.

Admassu Tadesse, TDB group managing director and TDB CEO, said, “As part of our response to the pandemic, we have been providing liquidity to our clients to curtail cross-border trade and supply chains disruptions, and, ultimately, to help our member states continue working towards their development objectives. With transport logistics slowing down, blockchain has been instrumental in making this happen.”

Michael Awori, TDB deputy CEO and chief operating officer, stated, “We look forward to working with more financial institutions in our region as well as traders and suppliers, both globally and in Africa, who stand to significantly benefit from the digitisation of their trade finance activities.”

Farooq Siddiqi, CEO of dltledgers, added, “Benefits include facilitation of trade finance, improved visibility of the underlying flows, and better client experience. It is a pleasure to work with such a forward-thinking organisation and we are excited to help TDB scale its digital capabilities in 2021 and beyond.”

GSA confirms 5G availability milestone

THE GLOBAL MOBILE SUPPLIERS ASSOCIATION (GSA) HAS REPORTED that the number of announced 5G devices now stands at 628, an increase of 21% over the last three months.

The new ‘5G Devices – March 2021 –Executive Summary’ report revealed that of the 628 announced 5G devices, the total number of commercially available 5G devices now stands at 404, which is an increase of 33.3% over the last three months and represents 64.3% of all announced 5G devices.

By the end of February 2021, GSA had identified 21 announced form factors; 119 vendors who had announced available or forthcoming 5G devices; 306 phones, of which at least 274 are commercially available; 122 FWA CPE devices, of which 47 are commercially available; 80 modules; 34 industrial/enterprise routers/gateways/modems; 29 hotspots; 15 laptops; eight tablets; and 34 other devices.

ADL reveals how to succeed in a 5G world

CONSULTANCY ARTHUR D LITTLE (ADL) has released a report entitled ‘Time to accelerate growth’ that, based on a global survey of more than 100 C-level executives, identifies key strategies to unlock the value of network assets, diversify product offerings, and succeed in a 5G world. The report outlines three main areas that telcos should concentrate on going forward: Maximising 5G’s potential: To further enhance customer experience for B2C, telcos and media companies need to form alliances and use 5G as a means to create new and compelling products for consumers. To provide solutions to B2B customers beyond connectivity, mobile private networks (MPNs) and network slicing offer key opportunities for 5G monetisation. To capture wholesale infrastructure business opportunities, telcos should also consider structural separation into ComCos and NetCos. Moving beyond core services: Telcos have attempted to diversify their offerings for decades, often without any significant ROI. Looking at various ‘beyond core’ options, the report identifies how to diversify successfully and recommends four main priorities – target a market which offers both sizable growth and revenues; build a multi-model approach that combines both internal and external resources; work with a ‘start-up’ mindset and in private equity mode; and adopt a phased and agile approach for rollout that sequentially prioritises key concepts. Reconfiguring telco assets: Maximising 5G’s potential in the core businesses of B2C and B2B, kick-starting new wholesale infrastructure businesses, and moving beyond core imply an appropriate reconfiguration of underlying assets and ownership structure. While asset reconfiguration is not new, there is a growing tranche of opportunities that telcos should consider –for example, the towerco model promises further options for monetisation. Asset reconfiguration can drive value creation by lifting financing constraints, increasing asset utilisation, derisking investment, strengthening the wholesale value proposition, increasing management focus on distinct core businesses, and preempting unfavorable regulatory decisions.

Karim Taga, managing partner in ADL’s Telecommunications, Information Technology, Media & Electronics Practice, commented, “The ‘scissor effect’ of a widening gap between revenue and investment means that the pressure on telcos’ cash flow has never been so intense. Executives must deliver growth while juggling both increasing capex and investors’ unwillingness to cut back dividends.”

“However, the telecoms industry still has a very bright future ahead if it is willing to embrace the opportunities that exist and move beyond its traditional comfort zone. We hope that this latest edition of our flagship report provides both inspiration and guidance for executives currently strategising ways to move their company forward.”

The report is available for download here: www.adlittle.com/TimeToAccelerateGrowth

Raxio to expand footprint with data centres in DRC

THE RAXIO GROUP (Raxio), a career-neutral data centre operator, has announced that it is establishing and investing in ‘Raxio Kinshasa’, the first in a series of privately owned, carrier-neutral data centres in the DRC.

Set to be commissioned in Q2 2022, Raxio Kinshasa will offer its customers an optimised environment for their IT equipment The Raxio Kinshasa data centre will be in a state-of-the-art facility built commissioned in Q2 2022. consistent with ‘metro-edge’ principles. It will be fully equipped with industry best in technology, security, caging, AC/DC power compatibility and redundancy in a 99.9% uptime environment. Customers will be able to crossconnect with local and international carriers and other customers in specially designed meet-me rooms. Customers will benefit from a ‘shared infrastructure’ model, and substantially reduce their operational and capital costs while improving application performance and flexibility.

Through the establishment of the Kinshasa centre, Raxio is supporting the ‘National Digital Plan – Horizon 2025,’ a programme laid out by the DRC government to digitally transform the country through the establishment and modernisation of infrastructure.

Robert Mullins, president of Raxio Group said, “We are delighted to do our part and to announce our decision to be moving forward with the DRC’s first Tier III carrier-neutral data centre. Our platform of data centres will provide a critical and missing part of the country’s digital infrastructure, needed to support the country’s digital growth with affordable, high-quality, co-location environments.”

Photo: Adobe Stock

Major new deals in MEA region push STL’s order book to record high

STERLITE TECHNOLOGIES LTD (STL), an industry-leading integrator of digital networks, has announced major new deals and extensions to current engagements with leading telcos in the Middle East and Africa region (MEA). The deals take STL’s order book to a record high and exhibit the company’s focus on building future-ready digital networks in the region.

Since mid-2020, Tier 1 MEA telcos have been investing heavily in building digital networks. STL has been expanding its presence in the region with their fully 5G-ready Opticonn and Software Solutions. STL’s unique end-to-end solutions enable customers to build 5G hyperscale networks at a fast pace with lower long-term total cost of ownership (TCO). These multi-year, multi-million dollar deals range from optical connectivity solutions to network solutions.

One large-scale deal is with a leading telco in the UAE to advance its 5G, 4G and FTTx network infrastructure through STL’s Opticonn Solutions, including onshore logistics and warehousing. Another multimillion dollar digital transformation partnership has been formed with the leading telecommunications group in North Africa. This telco will deploy STL’s digital billing solutions to seven million subscribers across the region. With these deals across the MEA region, STL has built an order book of more than US$100mn in the region.

Speaking on the deals, Sandeep Girotra, global sales head of STL, commented, “STL is building solutions to empower its customers in the MEA region for optical connectivity and network software, enabling FTTH and 5G deployments. We are proud to be a part of the progress of the Middle East and Africa.”

“With our deep technology expertise and growing talent base, we will continue to deliver on the full potential of digital networks, providing enhanced experiences to consumers and businesses alike,” Girotra added.